Category Archives: Organisation

In my recently monthly intentions (which is linked here) I talked about wanting to create a savings plan for the New Year because while I’m not saving for anything in particular, I do want to have some money behind me in case an emergency pops up. So today’s post is about how I plan to start thinking about my savings plan.

Before we start, it’s important to know that everyone’s situation will be different; the questions that I ask appeal to everyone though so you can still use these questions to give your own answers and see how I’m planning on working everything out.

Decide what you want to save for.

Your obvious starting point right here. If you’re reading this saying to yourself, “I should really save” but you have absolutely no idea why you need to or if you only think it would be a good idea but don’t actually want to, simply don’t. If you don’t want to, just don’t. For those of that do want to save, this is your why. Why do you want to have that spare cash? Is it for a holiday? Is it for a particular purchase? A special occasion perhaps? Mine is an emergency basis. I don’t want to be caught out with just my income in my bank account, so it’s smart to have some money behind you at least, in case anything were to happen.

(My spider diagram isn’t completely organised but it’s a great way to get your ideas out quickly if you prefer something that isn’t in list form.)Know what your direct debit (or essential) bills are.

For many people, they will know what their direct debit or essential bills are. They’re the ones that come out every month around the same time and you know they’re going to be the same price every month. Mine are my rent, my pet insurance, my TV, my internet, my electric and my phone bill. In terms of heating for example, I have oil so I can’t top up my gas every month on a card, I have to buy it in one big batch which can a big price every few months. It’s the same with food shopping; it really varies so that’s why tip number four will be very important here.

If you want to save a particular amount.

Once you know what needs to go out each month roughly, have an estimate of how much you would like to save. This really depends on so many factors but because we haven’t looked at ALL purchases, this is just an estimate so I wouldn’t put too much thought into this yet. You also have to think, are you looking at the saving in a monthly term or a yearly? You’ll see it come together faster in a monthly term but with a yearly, if you can’t save one month, you can always move something about and save double the next month.

Keep a closer look at your purchases for the next month.

For those of you that don’t keep an eye on your spending, this will be a real eye opener. I’m not really strict but I wouldn’t just shop and not think about how much something is, and I feel like a lot of people are in that same category. In order to keep track of what you’re spending, you need to write everything down. Yes, even that coffee you bought at lunchtime and even that box of tampons. Absolutely everything and it’s important to do that because you can see what you are buying first hand. It doesn’t take long to do; you can either use your notes app on your phone or you can quickly write it down in a notebook. I tend to write the price too because it makes it much easier to add up at the end of the month. I’m personally not doing this particular process until January because November and December are such expensive months that it doesn’t reflect my true spending habits.

See if there is anything you can eliminate.

Maybe you’ve noticed you buy more coffees than you first thought? Maybe you didn’t realise how many times you were buying lunch during the week rather than meal prepping at home? There could be so many little habits that you pick up on that you didn’t realise that you done. I find it easier to write those habits down again in one list on their own, you can see them a lot clearer that way.

We’ll take this as an example; I’ve listed my other debit debit bills which include my gym membership, Spotify, Netflix and my Book and a Brew subscription. Out of four of those, only three were important to me so a few months ago, I stopped my subscription for the book service. This meant I was saving myself £13 a month and while this isn’t what I’ve described above, it’s a good starting point before you go through every single purchase for the month. You can really pin-point first hand what you can potentially eliminate.

Plan out treats for yourself.

Treat Yo’ Self. (If you watch Parks and Recreation, you’ll know how boss Retta and Tom are). You have to treat yourself once and a while, and not all treats are free and that’s perfectly fine. You can still go for your monthly eyebrow appointment, you can still go for that monthly lunch date with your best friend. You have to work out what is important to you to take care of yourself so whether that’s your monthly subscription to Netflix or your Saturday morning cup of tea with your current book in your favourite coffee shop.

Take into consideration any special occasions.

Birthdays and anniversaries are occasions that you can’t avoid and you will have to take into consideration. They will come quite frequently throughout the year so it might be better to budget for these each month too.

Re-examine how much you would like to save.

Go back to your estimate and after taking into consideration what you can cut, what you would like to keep, those special occasions and the bills that you have to keep, how does your estimate look? Can you increase it or do you have to decrease it slightly?

How are you going to put it into place?

I wouldn’t suggest an old fashioned money box for this particular task; I personally would feel a lot safer putting it into a savings account and with online banking, this couldn’t be simplier. With some banks, you can even set it up to take a particular amount out of your account on a certain date so if you think you won’t even up transferring it, this might be the perfect option for you.

Decide when you’re going to start.

Normally I’m all for starting right away but when we’re talking about money, it’s always easier to start when you’ve just been paid because you have clear mind to go into saving mode with. Of course, you can start right away or even start the process at the beginning of the month, but I know I just feel more comfortable when I get paid.

These are quite simple steps so it won’t be for everyone but for some people (including myself) it can be hard to save money. Whether that’s not having a large expendable income or maybe not realising how much they’re truly spending. If this helps just one person, then I’ll be a happy woman. I hope you enjoyed this post, and if you think it could help others, please feel free to share it too ❤

I’m a goal setter. I love New Year’s Resolutions, I constantly like to push myself to be better so I wanted to create some Summer Goals for myself to try and achieve at least by the end of the Summer. It’s always a good motivator for me and I believe everyone needs to have a few goals in their life to keep moving forward and to continuously grow.

1. Get my diaries organised.

Coming up soon in another blog post, I’ll go more in-depth on my diaries, but I have two Filofaxes and I want to organise them both before the end of the Summer. I got really into them before months ago then fell off the wagon again, and that was all because I missed a few days and I didn’t like that they felt blank, so I gave up. I’ve bought two new calender diaries for them for this academic year (even though I’m no longer an academic) so maybe once I’m a few months in, I’ll go through them on my blog and tell you how I organise and decorate them.

2. Update, organise and structure my blog more.

This one is quite a big one for me. This is the first time that I have been consistent with writing blog posts and writing about things that I want to write about and for me, that’s something to be proud of. I’m not that happy with the way my blog looks (as I have written about previously), I’m not too fond of the layout and would like to brighten it up and make it look more professional (even though this is just a hobby for me!). So over the Summer, I would like to organise it more; have more pages and categories, sort those categories out and have a blog that I can be really really proud of.

3. Incorporate meditation into my daily routine.

After seeing a lot of people I follow via blogs talking about the Calm app, I downloaded it myself and I’ve found it to be one of the best mediation apps. I can’t seem to find the right balance at the minute but I hope once it comes to using it every day, I’ll find the right time and the right place to use it and really see a difference.

4. Take part in a Park Run.

I’ve heard of Park Runs for a while but I’ve never taken part in one so what a perfect time to start! I’ve recently got a good solid morning routine down which includes a very early morning start (There will of course be a blog post about this soon, it’s something I really want to talk about!) and I think adding in a nice early Saturday morning run would be great! It’s also a sense of community and because it’s timed, you can have a competition with yourself every week. I’m not planning on running it at first, I plan to walk and jog for the first few goes but if I catch the bug for it, I would love then to build up my time and my speed. My boyfriend and I have already registered so we just need to take part now!

5. Take more control of my spending.

We’re all guilty of buying a nail polish here and there or an extra treat for dessert when you go home, but they do all add up at the end of the month when you ask yourself why you only have a small amount left in the bank? I’m planning on moving in with my boyfriend soon so that will include me paying half of his rent, and splitting food and electric bills for example (Although I do like to think I do add to that) so I want to get all that sorted out first then once I see how much I have left, then I can have the occasional treat.

I do plan on having a little Summer Goals with my boyfriend, so once the Summer is over, I’ll maybe share what my goals were from that list, and if I achieved them.